Sunday afternoon, I was driving to Division II University, my mind occupied with finishing up my grading once I got to the office. As I sat in the truck at the last traffic light before I got to the campus entrance, the heater blasting onto my feet and the radio blaring, I looked over at the corner. Usually, a homeless person is standing at this corner, sign in hand. But this time there was no one there—in the low 30s with a brisk wind blowing, it was just too cold for people to be outdoors.
Suddenly, a flash of bright colors caught my eye. Crossing in front of me were a middle-aged black woman and a young black man, maybe in his teens. They were talking and laughing, really into their conversation with each other, and they were dressed like today was Carnival: the lady's sweater/skirt outfit was bright gold, red, and purple, and the young man's pants were blue jeans decorated with what looked like fabric paint and plastic jewels. They each wore a couple long scarves of many different colors of yarn, and the woman's dreadlocks were wrapped up in a headscarf of glorious purple and metallic gold.
I'm glad someone can be happy in this cold-ass weather, I thought.
Man, I hope they're on their way home. Nobody should be out in this. The young man looked at the long rows of cars stopped at the traffic light, then looked at the woman and smiled. She began to sit down, and removed a big piece of folded cardboard from inside her winter coat.
Oh, no, I thought.
They're homeless. But as the woman and young man sat down, their faces broke out again into huge smiles, and I read their signs, cardboard and poster-board brightly hand-lettered with crayons, paint, and Magic Marker:
Will Work for Christ!Jesus Loves You, and So Do We! The light turned green, and I heard the engine of the car behind me rev, as if to tell me to move. But I couldn't seem to press that long skinny pedal for the love and compassion I felt sweeping through me.
The message was out of love—not proselytizing, not beating people over the head with the message, as is so common in this part of the country. The messengers were glad to be there, all smiles.
I honked the horn loudly, and smiled and waved to the woman and young man, and drove off on my way, my heart full of gladness.
Labels: Holidays
As will rumpled little Joy, who wuvs her Aunt Pixie. Here, she snuggles in her favorite lap and purrs up a storm. Note the new Christmas jammies, made for Pixie by Mom. 
